


Thicker Skin

by lorir_writes



Category: Mother of the Year (Visual Novel)
Genre: Attempted Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Gen, Misogyny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:01:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29954472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorir_writes/pseuds/lorir_writes
Summary: The sudden memory of her troubled relationship with Guy gives Ayla the strength she needs to stand up for herself and fighter for her daughter.
Kudos: 1





	Thicker Skin

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Submission to CFWC Female Characters Week: Day 5 - This Is (not) A Men’s World (on Tumblr)
> 
> 2\. Warning: This piece contains adult material (descriptions of physical violence, sexual assault attempt and other acts of misogyny) unsuitable for minor audiences that may be disturbing/offensive for some people. Reader discretion is advised.

The long clock hand ticked loudly inside Ayla’s living room as it moved, marking the seconds as time passed by. Taking another sip of her wine, she glanced at the wall clock, bouncing her knee frantically in visible impatience. “Why aren’t they here?” She grumbled.

“Maybe they got distracted doing something together,” Alma said with an encouraging smile. “When did you say it was time for Guy to bring Stephanie back?”

“8 PM.”

Alma glanced at the wall clock and made a face. “Yeah, two and half hours is way past a reasonable ‘lost track of time’ excuse. Did he answer any of your texts?”

“No.” Ayla scowled, staring at her phone with no notifications from her ex-husband.

“Gee, does he ever have a moment he’s not a complete jerk?”

“Hard to say…” Ayla mumbled before taking the entire content of her wine glass and picking up her phone. Tapping the screen a few times, she pressed it to her ear and inhaled sharply when she heard her ex-husband’s voicemail message. “Stephanie was supposed to be home three hours ago and you fucking know it. You’d better get back here before midnight or be ready to face the consequences.”

About fifteen minutes later, the door opened. Carrying a large popcorn bucket and bags from expensive stores, Stephanie walked into the apartment beaming. Guy plastered his usual smug grin as he strolled in and stood near the door.

“Mom!” The girl cheered as her arms encircled Ayla’s neck, pulling her into a hug.

“Hey, kiddo.” Her shoulders relaxed as she returned the hug, almost forgetting the reason why she was upset earlier.

“Hey, Alma!” Stephanie grinned at her neighbor.

“Welcome back, Stephanie. How was your weekend?” Alma asked.

“It was so cool! Yesterday we swam in this huge pool and ate snacks all day. There was a conference at the hotel and people from so many different countries were there.”

“That sounds great!” Alma commented.

“Today we had shrimp risotto for lunch. It’s kinda gooey and weird, but it tastes good. Then we went to the mall, we watched Wonder Woman and we stayed for another two movies. Dad knew everybody there, so we got a bunch of stuff for free!” Stephanie beamed opening up her backpack to show everything she won.

Ayla kept her poker face on and smiled. “That’s great, sweetie. But it’s a little past your bedtime. So how about you show me everything after you take a shower and put on your pajamas?”

“But mooom! I’m almost ten now!” The kid whined.

“So? I’m almost thirty and I still need my beauty sleep to be ready for tomorrow.” Ayla nudged her daughter playfully. “Say goodnight to Alma and to your father and go to bed. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay.” Turning to Alma and then to her father, Stephanie bid good night to them and disappeared into the corridor that led to her room.

Without a second thought, Guy spoke up. “Stephanie is home, so I’ll just—”

“Not so fast, whitey,” Ayla growled.

“Seriously?” His lips pressed together in a thin hard line.

“Yes.” Ayla pointed to a chair nearby and demanded. “Sit.”

“I’m fine where I am.” Guy shoved his hands in his pockets and glared at his ex-wife.

“Suit yourself.” She gave her shoulders.

“I’ll be at Stephanie’s room,” Alma announced as she passed right behind Ayla towards the small hallway. “Knock him dead,” she whispered.

Ayla nodded in agreement and looked back at her daughter’s father.

“Is this going to take long? I have other stuff to do, I’m already late and I can’t waste my time here.”

“It’s funny you just mentioned that, Guy…” The corners of her mouth lifted, but her stare remained cold. “You wouldn’t be late for this other stuff you have to do if you had dropped Stephanie on the time you were supposed to bring her back.”

“Oh, great! Go ahead and tell me I can’t spend more time with my daughter. Judge Wilson will love that,” he mocked.

“Dude, did you hit your head on your way here or something? _You_ said in court you could only stay with Stephanie on Sundays until 8 PM.”

“Maybe I want more time with my kid. Have you thought about that?” He snapped.

“Great! Then talk to your lawyer about it and ask the judge to review your visitation rights.”

“Sure… That’s your answer to everything now, right?” Guy stepped closer to her with a menacing look she knew too well. “Do you really think that just because you won one stupid custody battle, you’ll win every time? Wake up, Ayla! I have power, I have money, I have contacts that will get me everything I want! But you? You are a nobody!”

And just like that, memories she tried to suppress over the years came rushing back to her mind, clouding her judgment.

**_Five years earlier_ **

Ayla carefully closed the door to her daughter’s room and heaved a sigh. It wasn’t easy to make Stephanie sleep when she was sick and asked for her father. But, at some point, sleep would catch up to the four-year-old child. Neither of them could count on Guy to be there with them lately.

After cleaning the dishes, Ayla went to her bedroom to change clothes and go to sleep when her eyes landed on her wedding photo. She shook her head at the picture. She hated the straightened and unflattering hairdo that ruined her curls for weeks. If she was being honest, she only agreed to wear it because it was her mother-in-law’s suggestion. She didn’t know then the many things that would go wrong in that rushed wedding.

She was applying her moisturizer when the front door was slammed shut. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Unlike the other days he got home late, she didn’t care where he was, who was with, or what he was doing. She just didn’t want to fight anymore.

“Well, isn’t that a sight for sore eyes…” Guy smirked as he walked into the bedroom, heading in her direction.

Ayla didn’t bother to answer. She simply stood up and stepped away when his hand gripped her arm.

“Where are you going?”

She glanced at his hand holding her arm, then at him. “I’ll be on the sofa couch in Stephanie’s room. I want to sleep. You can have the bedroom for yourself.”

“I don’t feel like sleeping right now…” Pulling her closer, he buried his face on the crook of her neck.

“No, Guy! Stop it!” She objected, trying to escape from his hold to no avail. As he snaked one hand down her curves and tried to push her nightgown up, she bent her right knee and struck him in the groin. “I said no!” Ayla hissed, pushing him away.

“AAAAAH!” He staggered back, wincing in pain. “What the fuck is wrong with you, woman?!”

“With me?!” Rage burned within her vein as she began to whisper through gritted teeth. “Stephanie had food poisoning and I missed my shift at work to take her to the hospital by myself while you disappeared for three whole days.”

“For the fucking thousand time, I am working!” He bellowed. “The project I’m working on will be worth millions of dollars! And you’re ruining everything with your incessant questions and poor people’s problems and mindset!”

“Will you keep it down? Stephanie is sleeping.”

“Are you concerned about Stephanie waking up or just scared the neighbors will see you making another scandal for no reason at all?” He snarled.

Still ignoring his words, she grabbed a pillow from her bed and opened the wardrobe to pick up a blanket. “I’m talking about our daughter, you jerk! And if my poor people’s mindset and problems upset you so much, why the hell are you still here with me?”

He straightened up his posture and moved closer to her again, standing right behind her as he gazed at her backside. “Because you’re mine. Every man needs a stress release once in awhile and you have always been great fuck.”

“You’re disgusting…” She stepped back, crinkling her nose. “And you’re sorely mistaken if you think I’m going to open my legs for you ever again.”

“You’ve said it many times before, but I always get what I want. It’s so easy…” He sneered.

Guy was about to reach for her hair when Ayla turned to him, hitting his head with one of her sparkly six inches high heels. As he fell down, she reached for her purse, put on the first pair of shoes she could find, and went straight to Stephanie’s room.

Cradling the child in her arms, she tapped her phone screen one single time and pressed the device to her ear.

“Mom?” Stephanie rubbed her hand on one eye, looking up at her mother.

“It’s okay, sweetie. We’re going to stay with your grandma tonight.”

“Vovó Sandra?"¹

"Yes, dear…” Ayla forced herself to smile. She didn’t want to scare her daughter. When her mother finally answered her phone, she began to speak in her mother language so Stephanie wouldn’t understand. “Mãe, desculpa ligar a essa hora. Mas eu não posso ficar aqui hoje! O Guy tá louco!"² She whispered, fighting back tears.

_"Ô meu Deus, eu sabia! Eu te disse que esse caba ainda ia te fazer mal! Cê tá com a Stephanie, minha filha?"³_

"Tô."⁴

_"Pois venha pra cá! Não fique aí não!"⁵_

"Tô indo…"⁶

_"Vou esperar na porta. Se você não aparecer, eu chamo a polícia pra prender esse safado!"⁷_

"Tá…"⁸

She was opening the door to leave when he yelled. "Go! I’m gonna leave you anyway! You are a nobody! You mean nothing to me! You’re just a stupid bitch I bang when I can’t find anyone else to get me off!”

But instead of fighting back, Ayla just closed the door and rushed to her car carrying her away from the place that hasn’t felt like home lately.

**_Present night_ **

For years, memories of her relationship with Guy haunted Ayla, disturbing her sleep, making her trust in men weaker. But she was no longer a teenager with broken dreams. And she was ready to make her ex-husband pay for his mistakes.

“Oh, just shut up already!” She stood up, squaring her shoulders and holding her deadly stare at him. “I don’t give a shit about your little toxic white boy speech! You keep barking and barking, but you’ll never bite! You know I’ll kick your ass in court and in here as many times as I have to and I don’t even need my samba high heels to do it.”

“Excuse me?! I—”

“I’m not done talking!” She spat.

His jaw went slack in surprise.

_“Mom?”_ Stephanie shouted from her room.

“Crap…” Ayla mumbled and cleared her throat. “It’s the TV, sweetie! I’ll turn it off and be right there with you, okay?“

_"Okay!”_

Ayla moved closer to him and lowered her voice. “I’m still playing nice with you and following the law because of Stephanie. But, trust me, my lawyer and I have enough dirt on you to make you lose more than your rights to visitation.”

“Is that threat?”

“It all depends on how bad you want to find out, Guy.”

He swallowed hard. “Fine.” He looked away and stepped back, trying to reach for the door handle.

“Great. See you on Friday!” She waved, smiling slyly as he finally opened the door and walked out of her apartment.

_____

¹ “Granny Sandra?”

² “Mom, I’m sorry to call you so late. But I can’t stay here tonight! Guy has gone mad!”

³ “Oh my God, I knew it! I told you this dude would harm you! Are you with Stephanie, child?”

⁴ “Yes…”

⁵ “Then come here. Don’t stay in there!”

⁶ “I’m on my way…”

⁷ “I’ll wait for you by the door. If you don’t show up, I’m calling the cops to arrest that son of a bitch!”

⁸ “Okay…”


End file.
